Since 2000, the NYC Transit Authority has been dumping decommissioned subway cars into the Atlantic Ocean, where they assume new lives as artificial reefs. In Next Stop Atlantic, photographer Stephen Mallon documents the process, uncovering the melancholy of the experience. As he says in his artist statement:
“Seeing these massive mechanisms being tossed into the ocean like a toy in the bathtub is a ping in my heart. I have always been attached to these machines, their surreal beauty integrated into their functional engineering. At first I was stunned, the moments of violent recycling, watching the water quickly adapt to its new underwater houses. After being pushed and stacked like a sardine in these subways cars over the past decade, it is nice to see the sardine actually getting one of these as its new steel condo.”
(via Flavorwire)